Fresh Buttered Spinach

• 3 to 4 pounds fresh spinach

• 1½ sticks butter

1. To prepare the spinach, first pick off the leaves and discard the stems. Wash the leaves in a large quantity of cold water, changing the water until no trace of sand appears in the bottom of the container. This thorough washing is essential, as gritty spinach can spoil the entire meal!

2. After the spinach has been thoroughly washed, spread the leaves out on toweling to drain well and dry, shuffling them from time to time.

3. To cook the spinach, place the butter in a heavy skillet and bring it to the foaming stage. Fill the pan with as much spinach as you can crowd in. With 2 large spoons, keep turning the spinach until it has wilted enough to allow room for the remaining leaves.

4. Keep the pan over high heat during the entire cooking time, and continue turning the leaves to keep them from burning.

5. If the heat is lowered, the spinach will stew instead of wilting. After about 10 minutes, the spinach should be cooked and the leaves shiny and very bright green in appearance.

NOTE: Cooking spinach is similar to cooking mushrooms. High heat helps these vegetables retain their moisture, whereas low heat will result in wrinkled and tough rather than succulent and tender vegetables.

Also, fresh spinach with the roots still attached is always preferable to the pre-packaged “washed” variety.